


He's Perfect

by feeling_pink



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Chronic Hanahaki Disease, Hanahaki Disease, Honorary Duck Family Member Webby Vanderquack, I'd never read one before (that I remember) and was INSPIRED, It's a crime how many times I use "..." but they were important I swear!!, Love Confessions, M/M, Not Beta Read, and I think thats all I have to say so all my tags as well! :D, casually using italics every 5 second for ~emphasis~, somehow made a good portion of this about HDLW being siblings, speaking of which!!!, there are all my actual tags!!, yall I found out about chronic hanahaki and was like WOAH
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-08
Updated: 2020-10-08
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:07:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26891905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/feeling_pink/pseuds/feeling_pink
Summary: It was 1:49 am when he woke up feeling sick to his stomach.It was 1:52 am when he decided to retreat to the bathroom before he felt any sicker.It was 2:01 am when he coughed up his first petal.It was 2:09 am when Louie Duck learnt what Hanahaki Disease was.
Relationships: B.O.Y.D. (Disney: DuckTales)/Louie Duck, Dewey Duck & Huey Duck & Louie Duck & Webby Vanderquack, Donald Duck & Louie Duck
Comments: 29
Kudos: 99





	He's Perfect

**Author's Note:**

> Whoops here's my first fic in months I meant to update one of my other ones but this came out instead :P  
> I've always loved Hanahaki Disease and decided Ducktales didn't have enough fics for it so I made my own!  
> Hope you enjoy!! :D
> 
> Warnings: It's hanahaki disease so: mention of doctors, hospitals, surgery, vomiting, coughing, and blood.  
> Please let me know if I missed anything important!

It was 1:49 AM when he woke up feeling sick to his stomach. 

It was 1:52 AM when he decided to retreat to the bathroom before he felt any sicker. 

It was 2:01 AM when he coughed up his first petal. 

It was 2:09 AM when Louie Duck learned what Hanahaki Disease was. 

~

After that fateful 2:01 AM, Louie is glad he had the thought to grab his phone before proceeding to the bathroom. 

The next 59 minutes he spent researching was incredibly informative, and increasingly worrisome. 

Hanahaki was a relatively rare, magic born disease that caused flowers to grow in the lungs of someone who was experiencing unrequited love. _Fun_. 

Louie wasn’t at all surprised he had contracted it somehow. He could have picked it up on an adventure, or maybe one of his family's enemies cursed him. It could be any number of weird circumstances that came with being a part of the McDuck Family.

According to the article, Hanahaki was seasonal. The flowers would bloom in the spring, thus leading to 6-8 weeks of coughing up flowers. As long as the person was in love, of course. 

Hanahaki seemed to differ from person to person. The severity of the disease’s effects relied on many factors; the state of the host’s immune system, age, how infatuated the host was, other sources of stress, etc. 

Severe cases sometimes require hospitalization for up to 8 weeks, whereas minor cases could be pretty much solved with an inhaler. 

Apparently, “first love” cases were often more severe, as the rate in which flowers grew was faster than the person could expel them, hence the need for a hospital. 

There was a surgery, which had initially piqued Louie’s interest. If there was an easy way out, he’d rather take it; classic Louie. Turns out, the surgery was anything but the easy route. Not only was it highly experimental, given how rare the disease was, but those who had operated suffered some... unforeseen side effects. Side effects such as amnesia, which could range from forgetting the person they’d been in love with entirely to just the memories of when they had been in love. Other reports indicated that those who had gotten the operation had reduced feelings of love in general. The surgery was also _incredibly expensive_. Which was really just the perfect cherry to top off the whole thing. All in all, Louie was way less thrilled about the surgery option. 

There was also the matter of confessing. 

If the person returned the feeling, great! The flowers would dissipate and you wouldn’t have to deal with it anymore (barring complications such as falling for someone else, death of the partner, etc.)

Then there the other possibility. If the rejection was particularly bad, hospitalization would likely be required (sheesh, dramatic). 

To sum it all up, he was going to be coughing up flowers every spring for seemingly the rest of his life. Perfect! Just _perfect_.

~

It was 3:08 AM when he set his phone down to process... everything. 

It was 3:10 AM when he realized who. 

~

He drew up his hood and curled into a tighter ball as his mind raced.

Coughing up flowers for the rest of his life seemed like quite the hassle. 

The other symptoms would surely prohibit his participation in adventures. He didn’t even want to think about how Huey and Uncle Donald would react to this... development. 

And who the hell was he kidding? He was still only 14! What kind of out of whack concept of love did he have for this disease to even work? And for that matter who the hell- _oh_.

Oh. Oh no. Oh no no nonono no. 

Shit. 

* * *

It had been 4:12 pm earlier that day when Boyd Gearloose had come over to walk with Huey to their Junior Woodchucks Meeting. 

It had been 4:13 pm when Louie had begrudgingly opened the door for the young robot as they waited for Huey. 

It had been 4:16 pm when they struck up an awkward, but pleasant conversation. 

It had been 4:22 pm when he closed the door for his brother and Boyd and left the room with a small smile.

~

Louie had been walking through the foyer when a flash of red nearly ran him over. 

“Louie! Good, Boyd’s going to be here soon. Could you open the door for him? I need to gather a few more things!” Huey says rapidly. 

“Wait, why can’t Duckworth do it-“

“Thanks, Louie!” And Huey was already gone. 

That’s how Louie found himself answering the door approximately 2 minutes later when Boyd Gearloose knocked. 

“Louie! I’m here to walk with Huey to our Junior Woodchuck meeting. Is he ready?” Boyd asks in his usual optimistic tone. 

“Uh, no. He said he was grabbing something and would be a minute, you should come in.” Louie explains, stepping aside to allow the young parrot to enter. 

Thus they stood there... in silence...

Louie had long since gotten over his first impressions of Boyd. It had taken a while, for Louie was nothing if not stubborn, but eventually, he’d settled and formed some weird friendship with the parrot. Once he’d gotten past seeing him as a killer robot, that left essentially what he thought of him before he and Goldie had figured out he was a robot. Boyd was basically perfect.

After 3 minutes of silence, Louie couldn’t take it anymore.

“I’m sorry this is so awkward, how are you, Boyd?” He asked.

“I’m doing good! And it wasn’t that awkward, we’re friends. We can be quiet sometimes.”

“Oh- do you want to go back to being quiet? I didn’t mean to disturb the peace, or whatever-“

“No no, I like talking to you as well.”

“Oh. Me too,” Louie said quietly, “That is, I like talking to you... too.”

Boyd chuckled. “How has your day been, Louie?”

“Kinda boring, but peaceful. It’s better now that I’m talking with you.” ... _wait_ \- 

“Okay, I’m here!” Huey yells while speeding down the stairs, “Hiya Boyd! Shall we?” He asks, already halfway to the door. 

“We shall, it was nice seeing you again Louie,” Boyd said, following Huey out the door, but not before turning back and flashing a smile.

And goodness, Louie could have melted on the spot. As he said, Boyd was perfect, and that included smiling in ways that made his knees weak.

“Yeah... nice seeing you too,” he said as he closed the door. 

With a sigh and a smile, Louie Duck left the room.

* * *

It was 3:14 AM when Louie duck coughed up two more petals. 

It was 3:18 AM when he realized he couldn’t con his way out of this.

It was 3:19 AM when he registered he wasn’t going to be able to hide this.

It was 3:24 AM when Louie Duck began to scheme.

~

So.

Louie had feelings for Boyd. 

Boyd did not return those feelings. 

Just admitting that made his chest tighten. And there was basically nothing he could do about it.

Well, besides the medicine- 

Shoot. 

He was going to have to tell his family. 

There was no possibility of him hiding it, not for long anyway. If Beakley or Webby’s spy skills didn’t snuff him out, then certainly either Huey’s older brother instincts or even more so Uncle Donald’s dad instincts would. Uncle Scrooge had his gut to tell him when something magical was afoot. Heck, his mom has had some time to sharpen her mom senses, and even Dewey had the awful habit of walking in at the worst of times!

And assuming that somehow, SOMEHOW, he was able to hide it from his immediate family; then there was no way his friends would ignore it. Lena and Duckworth were magical beings, they would probably be able to sense the disease somehow. Violet knew a weird amount of magic stuff and would likely diagnose him quickly. Launchpad- Well, probably not Launchpad. That is, unless, there was a Darkwing Duck episode about hanahaki, in which case he’d be the first to know. Gosalyn had good instincts on her side and Boyd- ...He didn’t want to think about Boyd right now.

The point was, he was going to get caught, so telling the truth was his best option.

Hmm... _or_ , part of the truth. 

Hanahaki disease stated he was in love with someone. He could pretend he didn’t know who he had a crush on, then he wouldn’t have to confront that! Hanahaki season was nearing a close anyways, if he could avoid Boyd for a mere 3 weeks, he’d likely be in the clear! It was perfect! He could certainly get over whatever feelings he had for Boyd before next year. Then hanahaki would be totally manageable and he could avoid the whole situation! 

Louie Duck was going to ignore his feelings, and it was going to work out _just fine_.

~

At 3:28 AM, he felt the best he had since he’d woken up.

At 3:30 AM, he went back to bed. 

At 3:48 AM, Louie duck fell asleep.

* * *

The next morning Louie groaned as he rolled over, he was still tired and the sun was being really mean to wake him up. 

The events of last night slowly came back to him, and soon enough his body was wracked with coughs which did not subside until he felt two petals in his mouth. 

“You okay, Lou?” A sleepy Dewey asked as he climbed down the ladder of their bunk bed. 

For some reason, the triplets still shared a room. Whether it was the overall lack of time spent in it (other than sleeping) or refusal to deviate from what they knew was hard to say. 

“Uh, yeah. I’ll be fine, Dewey.” Louie responded. Not technically a lie, but he would have to tell him... all of them eventually. 

Dewey yawned in response, stretching now that he on the floor. Louie followed suit. Seemed as though Huey was already up and about. His internal clock had always been better than either Dewey or Louie’s. 

The pair of triplets got dressed and ready for the day, Louie tucking the slimy petals (ew) into his hoodie’s pocket for when it came time. 

Well, time to face the music. Louie’s initial instinct was to go to Uncle Donald, and every other part of him agreed. He had to rip the bandaid off. Oh boy...

On their way down the hall, Webby jumped out of... somewhere. Probably a spy thing.

“Louie! Dewey! Okay, I have something wonderful planned! Can you guess what it is?” Webby blathered, and without a pause for either brother to answer she continued, “a sleepover!” She yelled. 

Ah yes, Webby’s infamous sleepovers. They’d had many over the years but were always fun and filled with life-threatening danger. Webby continued to babble, Louie’s tired brain blocking most of it out. He’d ask her to repeat things later. 

“Sounds great Webby!” Replied a much more awake Dewey. 

“Oh- uh, yeah! Good plan Webs.” Louie says automatically. Welp, no getting out he whatever he just agreed to now. 

~

It was 9:12 AM when he sat down for breakfast. 

It was 9:20 AM when he finished it. 

It was 9:28 AM when he was standing outside the houseboat. 

It was 9:42 AM when he finally went into the houseboat. 

It was 9:49 AM when he told Uncle Donald. 

~

Breakfast passed uneventfully, Louie spent most of it trying (and failing) to figure out how he was going to tell Uncle Donald. 

Soon enough, people had branched off, leaving Louie to his own devices. 

Oh boy...

He doesn’t know how long he spent standing outside the houseboat door, sometime between too long and not long enough for Donald to open the door before he could. 

He steeled himself, knocked twice, and opened the door. 

See? That wasn’t so hard. 

“Uncle Donald?” he called out. 

“In the kitchen!” Replied the familiar raspy voice. 

This was the actual hard part. 

Uncle Donald was, in fact, in the kitchen. It looked like he was cleaning the stovetop. Whether it was from burnt food or he was just cleaning it was anyone’s guess. Wait, nope, it was burnt food; the window was open and there was a lingering smell of smoke from whenever his uncle had tried to prepare something. 

Louie sat down on one of the stools and waited. He was already dreading this conversation, and he hadn’t even figured out how he was going to say it. 

Like, he couldn’t just go ‘Oh, hey Uncle Donald! Don’t mind me I just coughed up these flower petals and am going to continue to do so for the rest of my life, fun times, yeah?’ That seemed dumb. 

Louie was still lost in thought by the time his uncle sat down next to him. 

“What’s wrong, Lou?” 

“Was it that obvious something was wrong?” 

“Well,” Donald paused. “I do have 14 years of experience knowing when something's wrong.” 

“I guess,”

They sat there for a while. It was a comfortable silence, but Louie knew he had to say something soon.

His hands fumbled in his pockets, but eventually, he pulled out the petals from earlier. 

“I uh, coughed them up this morning.” 

Uncle Donald’s face shifted into something unreadable, but it only stayed for a second. 

Slowly, he was pulled into a hug, and he let out a breath he hadn’t known he’d been holding. 

“Thank you for telling me, Louie. Sometimes kids don’t do that, they think they can handle it all on their own, I’m so glad you felt safe enough to come to me.” 

Louie just nodded into his uncle’s shoulder. 

“It’s gonna be tough kiddo, Hanahaki is no laughing matter.”

“I know,” He paused, “Well, not really. But from my bit of research, it looks... _hard_.”

“Do you know who it is? That’s always a good starting point.”

“Uh, no.” He felt bad to lie directly after Uncle Donald thanked him for telling him the truth, but this was the plan, and he was going to follow it.

“That’s alright, you’ll figure it out.” Donald gave him a reassuring smile. “You’re a good kid Louie, everything’s going to work out fine. If it gets worse, let me or someone- aw phooey. Have you told Della or Scrooge yet?”

“You’re the first one I’ve told... including Huey, Dewey, and Webby.” 

“Do you want to tell them?”

“Yeah, I don’t think I could hide it that long if I wanted to.”

“That’s true.” Donald chuckled, “I can help you if you want me to, that is.” 

“ _Yes please_ ,” Louie whispered. He had no idea how he was going to explain it to the rest of his family. Uncle Donald was hard enough as is, and he didn’t even react that badly! 

“And could we maybe, wait a little bit? I don’t want to do it yet.”

Donald smiles fondly, “of course, Lou,” Donald jostled his hair a bit, “Stay as long as you like. I’m going to work on this blasted oven, if it catches me on fire _one more time_ I’m throwing it in the pool.” 

Louie called his uncle’s bluff then and there, he would try to fix it himself many more times before he actually gave in and got a new one. 

And he was right, in their time on the houseboat his uncle was once again set on fire and there was a notable lack of oven in the pool after the exchange. Louie’s just glad he got to be there to help extinguish the fire. 

* * *

It was 1:23 PM when Louie decided he was ready enough to tell everyone. 

It was 1:31 PM by the time he and his uncle rounded everyone up for the announcement. 

It was 1:34 PM when the room went silent. 

It was 1:35 PM when Huey Duck left the room. 

~

Louie has tried to follow Huey after he’d stormed off but Uncle Donald had stopped him. 

“It’s fine kiddo, he needs some time to cool off. Let him be for now.” Donald whispered to him. 

To say the atmosphere was... _tense_ , would be the understatement of the century. 

Uncle Scrooge has the same unreadable face Donald had earlier, but it was lasting much longer and making him tense. Della was oddly quiet. Dewey just looked confused, not that Louie could blame him. And Webby-

“Well? Who is it?” Webby had practically teleported in front of him. 

“Ah- I don’t know.” He replies. She stares at him for a moment, and for a second he thinks she’d seen right through him before-

“Then it’s a mystery! And one I’m going to solve!” She announces. “I’m going to go start a board!” And thus, Webby also exits in the room. 

That left the adults and, “I’m, just gonna go follow her.” Dewey smiles awkwardly and left quickly after Webby. 

And then there were four. 

Uncle Scrooge spoke up first, “It’s going to be hard work lad, but you’ll get through this.”

Louie nods again. That seemed to satisfy Scrooge. 

A minute passes and Della is still quiet. 

...

"Mom?"

That seemed to snap his mom out of whatever world she'd been sucked into. 

"Phooey- Sorry sweetheart, I'm just worried," Della explains, "I don't doubt that you'll get through this, but I've seen how bad it can get, and I don't want you to be hurting." 

"I know. But hanahaki season is almost over, and I can figure something out before next year." Louie tried his best at reassurance. After all, these reasons were how he was reassuring himself. 

And it seemed to have worked! Della gave him a slightly stifled smile. 

Uncle Donald patted him on the head, "You can go if you want now kiddo, we'll call the doctor's office and see if we can set up an appointment. "

~

It was 1:49 PM when Louie Duck left the room.

It was 1:52 PM when he found Dewey and Webby.

It was 1:58 PM when he coughed up another petal.

~

With that over with, Louie went to go find Huey. Whatever his brother was mad about he’d figure out and fix. 

He passed by Webby's room first and stuck his head in to see if they'd beat him to Huey. 

From the looks of it, that was a no. Webby was clearing away at an old mystery board while Dewey sat off to the side, still looking as confused as he had been earlier.

Webby looked up and caught his eye, "You're here! Good, help me with a few things." She beckoned him over with a wave of her hand. Dewey gave him a look as though he was a deer caught in the headlights, but didn't say anything. 

“Here’s the board so far,” she began to explain the sections. There was a picture of himself in the center, below him were various bits of information, most looking like partial thoughts though. He couldn’t blame her, it had only been around 10 minutes. All of that was connected with blue yarn. Above his picture were pictures of other people, connected with pink string. Other people included their close friends, close friends included Boyd. 

The picture alone almost made him cough, but thankfully he was able to suppress it. Heck, if that's all it took then he might be in trouble. 

"Do you know what kind it is?"

"Hm?"

"The flowers, er, I guess it's just the petals right now, huh?"

Louie thought for a moment, he hadn't really been paying attention to what type of flower it was. "I don't know what type it is yet. They're pink and kind of big and round, that's all I have."

"Why does what type of flower it is, matter?" Dewey spoke up.

"Oh! The flowers are usually symbolic of the feelings, so we can use it to learn who it is!" Webby piped up. She'd gone to her bookshelf and started skimming titles for any relevant information.

Shoot that was right, Louie had read in his research how the petals were often symbolic to the point of irony. 

Dewey had nodded and gone quiet again. He still looked confused. And Webby was already so engrossed in finding this answer, it might be harder to keep the truth from her than he thought. 

Speaking of which, why was he keeping this information to himself? His feelings for Boyd would become apparent eventually. He wasn't exactly subtle in any sense of the word and for that mater-

And thus a coughing fit, which in hindsight was a complete rookie mistake.

His siblings were hovering over him in an instant, but it didn't last long. 

Soon enough he was pulling a slimy petal from his beak. Dewey grimaced. And Webby...

"Ooo! Give it here!" Webby smiled. "Did you catch what caused the reaction?"

"Webs, love the enthusiasm, but it was just in my mouth," Louie says, artfully avoiding the second question. Artfully was not an overstatement in any way, shape, or form. _Obviously_.

"I'll take what I can get!"

"Yeah, no. I'll go put it in a plastic bag for you. Be right back!" He ducked out of the room. 

...

Well, that could have gone worse. Could have gone a heck of a ton better as well but he'll take what he can get.

Seriously though, if thinking a little bit too hard about Boyd was all it took, this might be much harder to deal with than anticipated.

He hadn't even seen Boyd since yesterday! He was still the same perfect, definitely real boy who would never like him-

Aaaaaand diverting path to the bathroom!

~

It was 2:01 PM when Louie got to the bathroom.

It was 2:03 PM when the coughing subsided.

It was 2:04 PM when he slumped against the wall, still feeling slightly sick.

It was 2:05 PM when Dewey Duck entered the bathroom and sat down beside him.

~

"You don't have to be here."

"I think I do."

They sat there for a moment.

"I don't really know what's going on. Huey's being all mad and stuff and Webby's great but she's busy making the board and really don't understand what's happening."

"That's okay-"

"Is it?" Dewey interrupts. "Louie, you're my little brother. I know Huey's always been better at the older sibling stuff, but I don't want to see you hurting." A pause. "I may not quite get the situation but, I'm always here if you want to talk."

"And that's why you're such a great older brother." Louie smiled and leaned on Dewey. "It's just more weird, supernatural stuff. Nothing we can't handle, ducks don't back down, right?"

"Right..." Dewey leaned back onto Louie. "But for the record, I prefer the magic stuff I can punch in the face."

"Noted." Louie gigged.

They stayed like that for a while, sitting in comfortable silence.

"I should get this petal to Webby, then figure out what the heck is going on with our brother."

"Good luck with that, Huey was all holed up in our room. Didn't want to talk to me, or anyone."

"He can't turn me away, I'm sick now," Louie smirked, stretching as he got up.

"Oh no, you're going to use that excuse to control the TV, aren't you?"

"You betcha! I hear they're re-airing season three of Ottoman Empire tomorrow~" He says in a sing-song voice.

"Aw but season three's the worst! I'll run the bagged petal back to Webby, we have to solve whatever the mystery is fast so I don't have to sit through that."

They stared at each other for a moment, then burst out laughing.

Louie was glad it wasn't tense with Dewey, he loved his blue-clad brother. And maybe... just maybe, he would take up his offer to talk later.

~

It was 2:16 PM when the brothers left the bathroom.

It was 2:19 PM when he gave a petal in a plastic bag to Dewey.

It was 2:22 PM when he knocked on his bedroom door.

~

"Go away!" Yelled the room's occupant.

Louie opened the door anyways. "Nice try, but you can't say no to me."

"I'm serious Louie, I don't want to talk right now."

The room looked mostly like it had been, though the top bunk had clearly seen better days.

"Hmm... that sounds like a you problem," Louie says as he climbed to the top bunk.

As he reached the top, Huey gave him a glare as a response.

After a minute of the conversation clearly going nowhere, Louie spoke up.

"What's your problem dude? I'm the one with the disease, not you."

"Exactly! Louie, you're sick. I don't know how much research you've done, but it's serious."

"Of course I've done some research! I know it's serious, I've already freaked out about it, why are you freaking out?"

"Because I did my research too! I had an essay on it last year for Ms. Kaneri's class, remember?"

Oh riiiight. 8th grade Science had a paper on chronic diseases. Huey's had been, of course, amazing; though Louie missed most of the information.

"Louie... you're in love with someone, and whoever it is doesn't love you back."

"Oh gee, thanks for that-"

"I wasn't done!" Huey huffed. "Whoever it is, is hurting you. It may not be consciously, but they are. That's infuriating! Someone is hurting my little brother and they may not even know it!"

"Well you can't blame him really, it's not his fault I'm in love with him."

"That's another thing! Louie, you're an amazing duck, if you've spent enough time around whoever to develop feelings for them, then they're an idiot for not doing the same. You're ambitious, and creative, and so incredibly smart and if whoever it is can't see that then they really must be stupid."

Louie sat there for a second. "Thank you, I think? I still don't get why you're mad though."

Huey falters. "I'm not mad... just... Louie I'm supposed to protect you. I can't do that here."

"Huey you're only 48 minutes older than me, you're the best older brother I could ask for, but you don't have to protect me from everything."

"I know. I _should_ know that." Huey grumbles. "Sorry if I got all dramatic about it. I don't like it when I can't help."

"I know Hue. To be fair, if you got it, I would freak out too."

"Hm..." Huey spent a moment unclenching his fists and relaxing his posture, at the time he hadn't even realized how tense he's become.

"So, who is it?" Huey asked.

"Oh, right, you left. I already told everyone that I don't know."

Huey raised an eyebrow. "Mr. Sharper than the sharpies who used he/him pronouns when describing the 'whoever' and isn't completely freaked out by not knowing this critical information, doesn't know who he's in love with?" Huey deadpans.

Louie stared at his brother with wide eyes. Sure he'd guessed they'd eventually figure out who it was but that fast?

Huey broke down laughing, "Your face is priceless! I'm sure you've already thought of all the angles, I won't question your decision not to tell us."

"I- thank you." Louie gave his best awkward smile, "I... can’t tell him. I already know he doesn't like me back, why jeopardize our friendship? And if I told you guys, I thought you'd try to set us up anyways." He explains.

"That... does sound like something we'd do." Huey nodded. "Just promise me this, if it gets bad, tell somebody. _Anybody_. I'm going to be so mad if you get lung damage at 14."

"I will, I promise." Louie chuckled. "I'm sure Webby could use your help making a board, want to head over there?"

"Oh!" Huey facepalmed, " _Of course_ she's making a board. Yeah, let's go help!"

And with that, the brothers went to join the rest of their siblings in gathering information, and Louie thought things were going alright.

* * *

At 11:58 PM Louie Duck woke up for another coughing fit.

At 11:59 PM he left the room to go get some water.

At 12:02 AM Louie passed by a room with its light still on.

~

Louie had woken up grumpy, if this stupid thing was going to seriously inhibit his sleep schedule he might even- and that’s a light.

Louie covered his eyes, as any sort of light was incredibly bright to his tired eyes.

It took a minute for his eyes to adjust, but when they did he realized he was standing outside of Webby's room.

He knocked on the half-open door, the room looked like it had before the triplets had gone to bed earlier.

"Louie? I thought you and the guys went to bed already?" Webby questioned, looking up from a botany book.

"Yeah we did, clearly you haven't." Louie yawned.

"I was only staying up for a little bit!"

"Webby it's past midnight."

"Oh..."

"Okay, how about you put that book down and-"

"No!" Webby jumped back, holding the book close to her chest. "I'm so close to something, I know it! I can't stop now."

"Webs, you have to sleep. It's not good to disturb your sleep schedule like this. Whatever you're close to can wait, it'll all still be here in the morning."

"No Louie, I have to figure this out before it gets worse!"

Oh? Did all his siblings need the reassurance of his wellbeing today?

"I know you want to help, but you can't force these things, you have to go to bed."

"Louie, you're my _family_. I have to help you when you're hurt!"

"Webby, you're my family too. That means I have to get you to go to sleep for your own good."

Webby froze, sighed, then bookmarked and closed her book. "Curse you and your good reasoning." She stuck out her tongue at him.

Louie made a face to look offended, "You stick out your tongue at me sir?"

"Is the law of our side if I say "ay"?" Webby giggled.

Louie pretended to ponder, "No."

They both laughed. "You should go brush teeth, but if you don't mind me asking, what were you close to finding?" He asked.

"I was-" Webby paused. "I don't even know, I'm barely close to anything right now, honestly.

"I just, I want to figure this out for you so you can hurry up and confess already."

"What if I don't want to confess?"

"Louie, do you really want to be coughing up flowers every spring for the rest of your life? Think about everything you'd miss! Adventures just wouldn't be the same without you!" Webby justified. And darn it, she had a point.

"And what about sleepovers? OH MY GOODNESS THE SLEEPOVER!" Webby yelled, rushing back to the board and looking something over.

"Webby! Shush, people are sleeping!"

"I know! Sorry, but the sleepover! Everybody's going to be there, we can definitely find out then!"

"What are you talking about?"

"The sleepover, silly! I talked about it to you and Dewey this morning. I was going to ask if we should cancel, but this is perfect! All our close friends will be there, it has to be one of them!" Webby explains.

"All of them?" Louie gulped.

"Yeah! Gosalyn has that hockey game next Saturday and we were talking about getting the whole gang together after for a sleepover!"

"Wow, Webby that's... perfect." He tried not to sound sarcastic.

"Isn't it? And that’s a week away! We'll have plenty of time to think and plan before then!" Seems to have worked.

"Sounds great, you should go to bed now though."

"Yeah, okay. More plans tomorrow though!" She agrees and left the room, probably to brush teeth.

Oh boy, everyone was going to be there... Everyone included Boyd. This was going to be a hassle to get through. Great to know his avoid Boyd for 3 weeks plan was going _swimmingly_.

Ugh, he was tired. Louie would freak out about this in the morning.

* * *

Over said next week, most of the duck sibling's time was spent gathering info.

Dewey was finally learning what hanahaki disease was. Between the four of them, they'd nearly checked out all the books on hanahaki in the library; the board kept growing with all new types of information.

They found out that the flowers he was spitting up were pink camellias. Apparently, they symbolized longing, admiration, and perfection.

Meanwhile, Louie's symptoms were becoming worse.

The coughing had become worse. Bigger petals and even small flowers were being forced up his throat, and it was a _little bit_ painful. He found that after a particularly bad fit, that his feathers were also damp from tears. Turns out it was harder to cough up petals than expected. Not to mention that flowers tasted _terrible_.

Luckily, Uncle Donald had been with him for when it got worse and talked him through it. How he knew so much was beyond Louie.

There was also the matter that he had barely slept the entire week; routinely waking up to either coughing fits or sickness. He'd spend his time in the bathroom contemplating his feelings for Boyd. Surely that didn't help, but he was coming to understand them more.

As previously stated, to Louie, Boyd was perfect, but that barely scratched the surface!

Boyd was smart, and in a way beyond book smart, he was people smart. Louie had watched him pick up on small mannerisms no one else had noticed; it was incredible.

Boyd was also _so cheerful_? Like, cheerful to the point where it confused Louie. His seemingly boundless optimism was infectious.

But more than both of those things, Boyd was _kind._ Even when he didn't have to be. Louie held their first encounter against him for months, but Boyd was nothing but apologetic. He really didn't deserve that kind of tolerance.

Louie saw how Boyd interacted with his brothers too. He was Huey's best friend, and boy did he live up to that title. And even with Dewey, Boyd was happy to indulge in any robot-centric questions his brother could come up with. If that wasn't kindness he didn't know what was.

And the more he thought about Boyd, the less hope he had. Louie had been... so _mean_ to him. There was absolutely no chance in this lifetime of the other bird returning his feelings.

The doctors didn't provide a whole lot of new information. After all, Webby and Huey were incredibly thorough in their information and it's presentation.

However, what they did provide him was a prescription to help manage the flower growth and an offhand comment about the rate of the flower's growth.

Overall, the week had been insightful, and with every passing day, they got closer to the sleepover.

* * *

It was 5:54 PM when everyone had arrived at the hockey game.

It was 7:38 PM when the game ended, Gosalyn's team being victorious.

It was 8:12 PM when everyone got back to the mansion, and the sleepover officially began.

~

The Hockey game was surprisingly easy to get through. He only really caught Boyd's eye once.

It was in the parking lot, and Gyro was conversing with the Sabrewings. Boyd had smiled at him, and waved. Louie held his breath, but he didn't even cough! Whatever the meds were doing must have been working. He waved back and turned back to his own conversation.

Louie spent the actual game seated next to Uncle Donald, he wasn't even sure where Boyd was, and he was happy to not think about it and watch the game.

After the game wasn't really a problem either. Everyone was too busy congratulating Gosalyn, and the ride back to the mansion was lively (when isn't it when Launchpad is driving?).

It was once the sleepover had officially started where things started to go wrong.

Louie's luck was bound to run out eventually. And run out it did. The group decided that the first activity of the sleepover would be to watch a movie. And Louie was 100% on board with this plan until he somehow ended up sitting next to Boyd, sharing popcorn with him.

It was fine, he tried to reassure himself, it was a movie, they didn't have to talk, and his meds worked fine earlier, it would be _fine_.

The thing about sharing popcorn in the dark is that eventually, both hands would go in at the same time.

It had been about halfway through the feature when it happened. Louie felt as though the pill had been wearing off, as he could feel a bout of sickness settling in. The best way to describe how the sickness felt was butterflies. So maybe the meds were working just fine and he was just worried about sitting next to Boyd.

Then they brushed hands, and the coughing that followed was almost instantaneous.

He excused himself from the scene quickly, retreating to the bathroom before throwing up enough flowers to make a bouquet.

By the time he felt alright again, the movie was almost over.

~

Webby and Lena insisted that their next venture would be some board game they found in the mansion's garage that was almost certainly haunted or cursed. Unsurprisingly, Louie was the first to opt-out. Following him were Violet, Huey, and _Boyd_.

The other three shrug it off and go to one corner of the room. Huey and Boyd start talking and go to another part of the room.

The Violet, walks over to him?

"How long?" She asked, tone completely void of emotion.

"Hello to you too." Louie replies, "Nice weather we're having."

"Don't do that." Violet deadpans. "You know exactly what I'm talking about."

"Do I? You're not exactly being specific."

"You're in love Boyd Gearloose and developed hanahaki disease."

Louie splutters. "I didn't think you were going to all that. Glad to know I didn't overestimate you."

Violet smiled. "It wasn't exactly hard. I don't know what preventative measures you were trying to instill, but I personally find it hard to be cunning and cough my lungs out at the same time." She held up a single petal. "I doubt anyone else noticed it, but it appeared after you left, I connected the dots."

"But how'd you figure out it was him?"

"That part was obvious, even without the petal."

Louie stilled again. Was he that obvious in his crush? No... the others hadn't figured it out yet- unless they had and didn't tell him. And Boyd was so astute to little details, maybe he knew as well-

"I'm gonna-" He left that statement hanging as he once again started on a path to the bathroom.

"Louie." Violet followed him. "Why don't you just tell him? Logically speaking the worst-"

"I already know what could go wrong," He cleared his thought "that's why I'm not doing it."

“Does your family know?”

“Uh, yes. And no... technically.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“They know I have it. I just didn’t tell them who.”

“What was that supposed to do?”

“Look, I came up with the plan at like 3 in the morning. It has a few holes.”

"What exactly _is_ your plan here? You can't hide this forever."

"I can sure try!"

At this point, he had made it to the bathroom and shut the door on Violet.

"Llewellyn Duck you just pit the wrong bird against you," Violet states, and turns to leave.

Unfortunately, Louie did not hear this declaration, as the second he entered the bathroom he started retching up those stupid, bad-tasting flowers.

He was still coughing up petals when he heard a knock on the door.

He was about to tell Violet to _go away_ when-

"Louie?"

That Was Not Violet's Voice.

Rather, it was Boyd's.

Touché Violet.

"I'm fine, go away!" He chocked out.

"Louie, I don't think that's true."

Ugh, fine. Touché Boyd.

"Violet told me to make sure you're alright. To do that, I'm going to have to open this door, okay?"

As it turns out, it's very hard to object when there's a flower in your mouth.

The door was unlocked. In his haste to the toilet, he had forgotten to lock it.

Boyd slowly turned the handle, Louie couldn't see an angle out of what was about to come.

He opened the door. 

...

"Oh, _Louie_..."

"I'm fine." He stated quickly. "Really, it just... a lot of petals, I'm fine."

"You've been crying," Boyd says, slowly approaching him.

"You would be too if you had to cough all these up."

"If I could cry, that would probably be true." He sat down across from Louie.

A moment passes. "You can't cry?"

"Not right now, no. No water source and Dad's afraid it would mess with my circuits."

"I guess that makes sense."

Another moment.

"Do you mind if I ask who?"

He sighed, "I'm sure you can figure it out, Violet did."

Louie was tired. At this point, Boyd might as well find out. He was as bad at keeping this secret as Gizmoduck was at keeping his secret identity.

"Have you considered confessing?"

"Who do you think I am? Of course, I have."

Boyd giggled, "Right, forgot who I was talking to."

"Yeah... I just _know_ he doesn't like me back so I didn't this to come between us. He's going to find out though, so I guess I blew that."

Boyd ponders for a moment. "I don't know many of your friends who use he/him pronouns..." he gasps, "oh my goodness it's not Timmy Jenkins, is it? Does Dewey know?"

Louie looked flabbergasted. "What? _No_! How'd you get that so wrong? It's _obviously_ you!" 

...

 _Whelp_ there goes any hope of Boyd not figuring it out.

Great job Louie! Just avoid him for three weeks he said! Just ignore the feelings he said!

There was a fluttering in his chest like he was about to cough up another load of flowers.

"But... that doesn't make sense." Boyd finally says, looking puzzled.

"What's there to understand? I fell for you. Not that hard, I mean your incredible, Boyd. You're _so_ smart and kind and _hopeful._ You're... basically perfect."

For a second, Louie swears he could hear a computer fan.

"But... Hanahaki Disease is for _unrequited_ love. And... I've liked you for _so long_."

"Wait- what?"

"I thought I was being so obvious! I mean, Louie, you're _passionate_ . You're creative and smart. I've seen you come up with plans like that, how you're able to strategize so quickly is phenomenal. And you're _thoughtful_. You put so much time into the things you do for your family. If either of us were incredible it would be _you_."

The fluttering in his chest dissipated almost immediately. Louie took his first full breath of air since this whole debacle started. It had only been just over a week, but he'd forgotten what it felt like.

He ran his fingers through his hair, " _Wow_ , um. Thank you... so much. I don't even know what to say, I'm honestly shocked."

"You surprised me too, I'd say we're even." Boyd places his hand on top of Louie's, who quickly turned his hand so they could properly hold hands.

Boyd smiled at him softly, it was in a way that made his heart skip a beat. He squeezed Boyd's hand.

"I like this a lot more than spitting up flowers."

~

It was 9:59 PM when they first held hands.

It was 10:00 PM when they decided to not go back just yet.

It was 10:22 PM when they finally did go back.

It was 10:24 PM when they reentered the room, still holding hands.

**Author's Note:**

> Bonus:  
> It was 10:25 PM when Huey said "BOYD?!! I revoke my understanding of you not confessing. BOYD??????!!! What do you mean he wouldn't like you back? BOYD??????????!!!"
> 
> (I like to think up dramatic off-screen dialogue that I don't put in the fic :D)  
> Hope that was alright!!  
> Took absolutely FOREVER to write but hey! I wrote it!! That's pretty good by my standards!  
> Uhhhh yeah that's all I have! :D


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